Suzanne Fletcher's Blog

The sun is shining and no appointments in the diary, so seaside here we come.  I enjoyed my walks whilst at conferences at Brighton and Blackpool recently and was ready for more.  On the way, we visited Old Fylingdales Church, where there was an art exhibition.  There was some beautiful work, capturing the fascinating history of the area, along with the symbolism around the gravestones, churchyard, and the meaning of them.  I have taken lots of pictures if anyone would like to see them, but won't clutter this blog with them, just the lovely view from outside the Church.

Then it was one of my favourite places ever.  Robin Hoods Bay.  We used to go there for holidays when we were young, to a caravan my Aunt had at the top of the bank.  You can keep Blackpool and Brighton, it beats them 20 times any day.  It looked good, it smelt good, and I won't mention in detail the glorious  chocolate sundae concoction we had that tasted so good.

Mind you the hill to the top doesn't get any less steep with advancing years, and the other places were flat!

A clean and fair Europe and world, followed by visions of truth, freedom and unity.  You've guessed - not a Council meeting today!

The hustings to choose the order of preference for the candidates for the European election in 2009 was first.  Four candidates were putting themselves forward, and it was very good to hear each of them put forward their views in turn, and then answer questions as a panel.  Issues ranged through the European constitution, referenda, the Euro and green issues.  We put them in order of preference (1,2,3, and 4) to determine our team.  We are a democratic Party, and every member of the Liberal Demcrats has a vote in this husting election.  All the candidates were very good and I only wish we could have 4 Euro Members of Parliament for our Region - those four!

Not very sensibly we decided on a quick dash to Teesside Park for  a few items after doing our market shopping (fresh fruit, veg, fish and local cheeses - you cannot beat Stockton Market!).  We hardly ever go to Teesside Park. It is a soulless place designed by the long gone Teesside Development Corporation.  However there were huge queues to get in and massive one's to get out - don't go if you are in a hurry, or don't like spending 30 minutes in a traffic jam.

We were just in time for the Service of Celebration for the opening of the Unitarian Church in Stockton.  (detail on the website) A beautiful service in their new building that they are rightly proud of. Truth, vision, unity and love for each other were words that abounded.  They started with the chalice lighting, lighting a candle to unite them with others throughout the world.  I won't mention the "not on our diet Christian Aid recipe delicious" cake we had afterwards, but I did see that they are using Fair Trade tea and coffee, and was told that whenever roses are bought, they are Fair Trade too.  I was most impressed with the green credentials of the building, and the solar roof panels are not only generating electricity for the building but they area able to export in back to the national grid.

Our final engagement was at Arc, where we had been asked to go to celebrate an evening of African Culture.  Music, dancing and fashion shows entertained for the evening.  My attempt at the salsa dancing demonstration was not too good - looks much easier than it is.  But not to worry we were there to enjoy, not tick boxes for achieving.

The Future of Housing was the name of the morning's Council seminar.  We had the Housing Green paper explained to us, and we are asked to make our comments.  Much is not hopeful.  40,000 units of new Social Housing a hear sounds hopeful, but when it comes down to it, 40 to 80 for Stockton doesn't go far with the waiting list we of thousands.  I feel frustrated and don't want to wait any longer for plans to be adopted and papers to be published before we can insist on houses that are as energy efficient as is technically possible, for them to be built to a standard of easy adaptation if needed in their lifetime, and for more homes to be built.  All the talk of new housing some time in the future does nothing for houses that are not energy efficient now, leaving people with large bills as well as not doing anything about reducing energy use.  Also it does nothing for the growing number of people who are buying their own homes and are now finding it difficult to meet their mortgage commitments.

The future of Council owned housing stock doesn't look much better.  Because of complicated finance rules, it may be that the only way to achieve necessary improvements for the homes now run by Tristar is to sell off our stock.  That may be the only say of meeting the problems in the short term, but long term it raises many issues and problems.  But existing tenants need improvements to homes and the areas they live in now, and not some time in the future when rules change.  A very difficult one.

A nasty start to the day with the appearance on the computer screen on my virus checker eating a "Trojan Horse".  It said it had killed it, but I ran the virus checker again just to make sure!

This morning's meeting was an Area Partnership meeting, and it was good to see so many residents turn up that not everyone could get round the table.

There are a lot of interesting contentious issues around.  Is the balance of parking for the disabled right; should certain cars be allowed to drive into the High Street; do we change the use of the Shambles ?

Then the results of the consultations on the Sustainable Community Strategy.  I've already made my views know on this on previous entries, and I am no happier about it as the process moves on.

Thinking about the meeting as a whole I wonder if anything in delivery of services will actually change as a result of such meetings ? I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but won't hold my breath.  It made me think about Trojan Horses.  Some things manage to get through onto agendas and reports, and I wonder where they have come from.  But then I have had a few Trojan Horses myself - but I'm not telling what!

There was a useful exchange of information.  There are bird and bat boxes planned for Newham Grange Park which, for those that don't know is in the midst of an urban area.  One representative of a rural area suggested that bats and people didn't mix, and if we encouraged bats they could nest in people's lofts and not be able to be got rid of - another Trojan Horse of sorts I suppose.

I was quite a time getting home, having visited a pensioner and ending up taking a picture she had painted to a Council building for her.  All part of the job!

A nice surprise when I got home - a draft press release saying that I was a runner up in Mayor of the Year competition - Wow!  More details when I have them.

Have a look at Mary Reid's blog about the situation in Burma.  We are all being urged to wear a red shirt in solidarity with the protesters.  If you read this in time, look something out.

Friends of Newham Grange Park are a group of people who live near the park that have been working hard to transform it into a place that welcomed people of all ages to play, walk, and just enjoy.  We were able to be there at the opening on September 2^nd, and tonight plans were being laid for future events, much needed seats and bins, planting thousands of bulbs, and even learning how to do hedge layering.

It can take a lot of time for a community group to get off the ground, and to see results for hard work, and this group have stayed the course.  One of the better sides of being a Councillor is being able to support and see a group like this grow.  I'm looking forward to trying out orienteering in the park - just a trial run before being seen to do in public though!

I had been invited to talk about my experiences as Mayor to the Egglescliffe Mothers Union.  It was nice to be amongst a friendly audience, many of whom had helped and supported at events, and it is also good to be able to recount and relive some of the Mayoral moments. 

The Council's Print section had excelled themselves.  A year ago they had done an excellent job of putting a photo of the Mayoral Chains onto a T Shirt for me to wear at my fund raising Ceilidh.   I had asked for a copy of the photo to be able to pass round when doing such a talk, and a laminated copy arrived in the morning just in time.  The people of our Borough are interested in the chains and their history, and there is now the opportunity for them to be able to have a good look when the real one's are not available.   The chains were presented to the Mayor in 1872 by "the ladies of the Borough for services rendered".  I don't think they would have been from the MU!

I enjoyed the afternoon and the members were very generous in giving to a collection to donate to my charities.

"Understanding Faiths, a practical guide to working with faith communities" , published by Faith Matters had its North East launch today at Darlington.  The key speaker, was Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal, who I found later was born a Sikh and became president of the Methodist Conference.   He spoke of Faith issues being more urgent and more important than ever before, and how Faith Groups needed to meet up with each other, and build up relationships of understanding and trust.  He urged people to "sit with, pray with and work with each other".  I've written about what he said, it was difficult to know what to leave out.  Skip to the end if you don't want to read it all!

He reminded us that it was now 40 years since Enoch Powell made his infamous "rivers of blood" speech, and there was the "Death of God" movement.  However there was a resurgence of interest and sales of books about faith and spirituality had gone up by 50% in the last 3 years.  He spoke of the pictures of the people of faith making their point so well in Burma.

He called for representatives of all faith communities to be part of decision making, bringing values of hope, justice and hospitality to public life.  There are many projects where a difference is being made, and the "authorities" should be encouraging this as they are projects working well as they come from the grass roots, and most are in the deprived areas

Returning to the booklet he explained now it helped to identify the issues, and was a contribution to the Northern Way, having been put together by Yorkshire & Humberside and the North West regions for the North East.  Apparently the North East is the only region not to have a regional interfaith network, and most local authorities do not have a faiths contact - just "community cohesion" officers.  Well that is the in word isn't it!

He said that there was a lot going on in developing inter faith work in the Region though with increasing representation on Local Strategic Partnerships, and Community Empowerment Networks.  I intend to find out just what we have in our own Stockton Borough having heard how valuable such representation can be.

As he pointed out, there is a place of faith in every community, and that place is a way of communicating with the community, and can be a powerful force for change, often going that "extra mile" to achieve what is needed.

I've had a good look at the booklet and it is interesting with useful links to more information.   It is available free from the weblink, and I have some copies.  Also we had "Faith in North East Regeneration" published by the Churches Regional Commission who were hosting the event.  Another booklet with information and links, and more can be obtained from them on 0191 373 5453.

I do feel that whilst everyone is keen on "community cohesion" and rightly so, organisations are missing out by trying to bypass or ignore the enormous strengths and richness that our society would benefit from by building up greater understanding of each others faiths.  We want peace, or so we say, how far are we willing to travel for it ?

A lovely surprise at Church today as old friends and previous curate in the early 1980's Bill Griffiths and his wife Frances came along, and we haven't seen them for years.  They taught us a lot, before they moved to St John's at Hardwick, and we remember them with a lot of affection.  Some of the things we did were rather controversial, like planting whips to make a copse of trees outside the Orchard Community Centre.  We named it "Willy's Wood" and for years it did look rather unkempt, but it is now splendid, so we couldn't resist a photo of them with some other friends involved in the planting.  Of course it wouldn't be a bit controversial now, everyone is doing it, and they were interested to hear of our walk yesterday starting from next to the Hardwick Church and the development of the area in Hardwick Dene to maintain it as a local nature reserve.

Our grand daughters 5th birthday part today, so a great time with balloons, traditional party games, and little girls dressed up.  Lovely.

A little political note creeping in though - we were shocked at the amount of packaging there was on the present we had bought, we do need to take up the call we had at conference to campaign against excess packaging.

A sunny day, just right for the "walk in the woods" that was being led by Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, starting off at Hardwick Partnership, and then going through the woods in our ward.  We enjoyed it so much.  A lot of work has gone into artwork that fits into the area, involving young people in the area.  Sadly quite a bit was vandalised though.

It is difficult to believe that there is a nature reserve right in the middle of our urban area, but it is there and the wildlife meadow is the best example there is of one in the whole of the lower Tees Valley.  There was so much to see, that I wouldn't have noticed on my own, such as the woodpeckers nest.  There are, we were told, 22 species of butterfly, 50 birds, and nearly 100 plant species.

I was annoyed that I hadn't any working batteries for my camera out with me, but fortunately local author Peter Moon was on the walk too and he kindly took the photos for todays entry, and sent them to me.

I was also interested to find that Elms have re grown in the Elm Tree wood.  I knew they had died in the early 1980's but didn't realise they were back, so that was quite exciting - the Elm Trees are back in Elm Tree! 

There are details of other walks and events on the Tees Valley website, it is certainly worth going on one - and the pace was very steady - I was able to keep up!

Back to earth with a big bump.  A seminar on Government proposals for changes to Local Government is the antithesis of Conference and what we were discussing.  Top down, imposed rules that do nothing to really give more power to Local Authorities to deliver services how local people want.  I thought I saw a glimmer of hope when told that "Partnerships" would have to co-operate fully with the scrutiny process, so I asked if that included buses - after all we have what is euphemistically called a "quality partnership" with them.  However that is not the sort of partner the Government has in mind, it seems.  I think everyone in the room was rather disappointed at that, and those we represent certainly will be, we get lots of problems and complaints about the bus services, yet can do so little about it.

I looked for the results of the vote on Post Offices in last night's debate in Parliament.  Our local MPs have had their pictures in the local paper and lots of coverage, especially Dari Taylor on saving Oxbridge Lane Post Office.  As I said in my speech at the Council meeting, this is all very well, but if one gets saved, another closes, and it is no good sending letters and presenting petitions to Government, they need to be told "your policy is wrong".

So what did our local MPs do ?

Frank Cook MP, Stockton North, voted with the Government.

Dari Taylor MP, Stockton South, was not on the lists at all so was not there.  I was not surprised, the entry on "They Work For You" says "Hardly ever rebels against her party, so even if there I doubt she would have stood up for her constituents against the government whips.

The Tories needn't gloat either - they started the Post Office closure programme.

The big downside of Conference is Thursday morning.  You have been out late, Emergency motions start at 9.00 am, and you have to pack.  Ugh!

However with Maureen's sterling example I did make it and glad I did.  Asylum for Iraqis working for British Forces was first on the agenda, and passionate please were made for the Government to make immediate arrangements to assist those who remain in danger because they have been helping our armed forces.  This is, we were told, particularly so for those acting as interpreters.  People are fearing for their lives because of the danger we have put them in.  There is an e- petition on the Government website.  I've signed it - please have a look at it and add your name.

The final emergency motion was "Save Darfur", moved by the youth section of the party.  We heard how we, meaning our Government in our name, was deporting people to "hell on earth", and the terrible conditions there.  An asylum seeker in danger of being deported back there spoke of what had happened to him.  All his family apart from maybe his 6 year old son, had been murdered.  He had escaped to our country and had lived on the streets for a while and now exists on vouchers.  If he were to return he would be assumed to be a spy and would certainly be killed, but he does want to find his son if at all possible.

We gave this man a standing ovation, all of us moved by what he said - but will our Government give him the security he needs ?

We then left conference, it was going to be very expensive the way that the train fares were structured to remain for Ming's speech.

Whilst at Brighton station I saw a number of headlines with nothing more than speculation about the McCann case.  None were likely to be interested in the son of the man we had just heard from of a similar age.

London was a nightmare to get through with the wheely case.  Victoria to Kings Cross is just full of steps up and down, with no alternative at all to anyone needing assistance.  Beware if going there!  Unless you have the time for a bus, it seems a taxi is the only alternative.  Crazy, and I expected more of our capital city in this day and age.

Home, but only for an hour, as there was an emergency meeting in the ward.  Hopefully some real progress will be made now though.

Then, before unpacking, feet up to watch Ming's speech.  If ever cages wanted rattling it is now.  The TV was still talking about "leadership issues".  I hadn't heard any all week.

A lively debate on tackling excess packaging started the day, with an amendment by Jacqui Bell to introduce a levy on plastic bags being agreed too.  The cost to both our pockets and the environment in excess packaging is enormous and one there is no need to bear.  A horrifying 17% of our food bills goes on packaging, to say nothing of what impact there is on the environment.  We heard from Martin Tod how he had worked for a firm that developed a toothpaste that didn't need packaging in a box, and other European countries didn't do so - but ours puts exactly the same tubes in a box.  Crazy, irresponsible or what !

The Stockton delegation met up with our MEP, Fiona Hall, to talk about this further - and you can see us here showing our re-usable canvass bags for conference!

A presentation by the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland followed.  I have long followed and admired the wise words and deeds of David Ford, MLA, who has steered the Party through extremely difficult times there and kept a crucial non sectarian balance in the negotiations and ongoing work.  Things are obviously moving forward there as he introduced Anna Lo MLA, who is the first ethnic Chinese to be elected to a European legislature.

We moved through the Better Governance paper, calling for, amongst other things, a written constitution, replacing the House of Lords with an wholly-elected Senate, and fixed term parliaments.  What a huge waste of time and energy it is, as well as being disruptive to many businesses, everyone speculating on when the next general election will be.

We have a system at Conference to debate items under an emergency motion slot, and this was taken up with a debate on tackling the gun culture.  It is clear that there are no quick, easy or glib solutions that only make for media sound bites.  Strong legislation needs to be brought in to tackle many of the issues such as illegal imports of guns, but as well as that the importance of engaging young people in other activities long before they reach the stage of gangs and guns.

The lunch time fringe I attended was run by "Kids Count" , and was a logical follow on to the debate.  We heard Richard Taylor from the Damiola Trust, and young people presented a DVD they had made.  One interesting point to ponder - if we gave Youth Workers the same esteem and pay as teachers would we reduce the problems ?

I think it is worth pursing - and it would be cheaper than building more prisons and paying prison wardens too!

Back to the conference hall for a stirring speech by Lynne Featherstone MP, who is now the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.  She outlined the 3 main causes of problems - the 3 C's.  Corruption, Conflict and Climate Change.

This led on to a question and answer session on climate change.  The overall message - action is needed urgently; we each need to take responsibility; stop setting the targets and start doing; and just get on and DO something.

After hearing Susan Kramer MP speak on transport it was time to have another good look round the exhibition and do some shopping for campaign materials, pick up some more freebies - and lots of other people's ideas whilst we were there.

One last fringe meeting in "Immigration and Integration"  Extremely interesting, and the speakers agreed when I said that a crucial part of integration is keeping up ESOL - the teaching of English as a second language, that the Government is very unwisely axing.

Another few days has passed and I have not heard one person talk about the leadership.  We are just getting on with what we are interested in doing, and what needs doing!

Time for a meal with friends and then the traditional Glee Club.  Much singing, much laughter, and definitely no photos!

Conference showed that it was not just a rubber stamp, by referring back a policy proposal about planning and housing.  There were some good ideas in it, and some had been touched on already, but the details wasn't right, we weren't prepared to say we would sell in on the doorsteps or put it into practice, so back it was.  Some of the media will be saying that it was a "blow for the leadership", but it was nothing of the sort - just an idea that wasn't right.

We heard the beginning of the Tax Reform Policy, before needing to leave to get the train for Chelmsford.  I was sorry to miss the Immigration debate, but I am proud that our party has tackled the issue honestly and openly, and you can read about it following the link, and also the link for the Poverty Debate.

Maureen and I were going to the funeral of an old friend of ours, Rev Chris Bard, who had died suddenly and prematurely recently.  I knew him as our curate at Egglescliffe Church from 1979 to 1981, and have been good friends with him and his family ever since.  He was a remarkable man, with a great talent for communicating with people in every way at every level, with a great sense of humour, and had love for people that knew no bounds.  He had had a profound influence on me, in politics as well as religion.  He taught me how to use my very first duplicator all those years ago, how to use stencils, letraset and keep on putting the message out.  That basic message remains with me, although of course have moved on with the technology!  He was also the person that encouraged me to keep on in politics after I was very ill 10 years ago, when I was all for moving out of a dirty sleazy world.  He said that the "good" people were needed to be in there, otherwise others would have a greater influence.  I don't count myself as particularly good, but I saw what he meant.

The Cathedral was nearly full of people whose lives had been touched, changed and enriched by him, and we will all, in our own way, try to carry on his work.

We arrived back at Conference to the end of a meeting on the future of Regional Government - a difficult one that!  Followed by a fringe meeting about commemorating the Holocaust run by The Holocaust Educational Trust.  I had organised an event whilst I was Mayor at the University, and I was interested in seeing a wider perspective, and what happened elsewhere.  This certainly happened and I will write more details later, as with other fringe meetings.  I noted the words of Lembit Opik MP who was brought up in Northern Ireland at the end, about conflicts and how to deal with them.  "Don't get angry, try to understand.  Spend time getting to know people and doing things together - you cannot attack the people you know".  Wise words.

An early start to be there for the debate on Dentistry which was calling on check-ups at NHS dentists to be free to allow dentists to properly promote preventive oral health.  As Sandra Gidley MP said - they say we can judge a nation by it's teeth, and so we should judge our government by the state that dentistry is now in.  It doesn't sound as though progress with the new contract is going to work, with 95% of the British Dental Association less confident with NHS dentistry than it was 2 years ago.

Then it was Vince Cable MP on the economy.  He talked about our present economy being "built upon the flood plain, and the defences being breached".  He then went on to attacking the inefficent and ineffective Tax Credit System with it's complexity leading to error and fraud.  He reminded us that the war in Iraq was costing £6.6 Billion - need I say more.

Zero Carbon Britain followed where it was pointed out that Brown was not green; we had had phoney Tony, and sham Cam not likely to be any better.  After the rhetoric though were very solid proposals for taxing pollution not people, and making us a zero carbon country by 2050.  Action really must be taken, it must be realistic, and it must start now.  However I am only too aware that it is more than Governemnt getting its policies right - we all have to play our part too.

It wasn't even lunch time and we had already saved the world, our teeth, and the economy!

Women in Prison was the next topic.  You can see more by clicking the link, but I was disturbed to hear that so many women were imprisoned that were no danger to society, and being in prison was not helping them or their families for the future.  An expensive "lose, lose" situation.

Lunch time doesn't mean a sit and laze around (although it could if I wanted!), but around 30 fringe meetings to choose from.  I decided on the "Stll Human, Still Here" one about the tragic situation around failed asylum seekers.  I will be writing about this in more detail and posting later, but I must say that I was impressed by the attitude and thoughts of Tim Farron MP who has just taken on responsiblity for this area.  Also that Alistair Carmichael MP and Lord Roger Roberts were in the audience at such a busy time for them.

I had decided that I needed to learn more skills on using the desk top publisher I use for publishing Focus, so most of the afternoon was spent training, but at least it was with fellow travellers, all learning at the same time.  Hope I remember when I get home!

I rushed back to the Conference Centre to support Maureen Rigg who was going to speak in the anti bullying in schools debate.  I was too late, she had been called as the first speaker.  i didn't hear what she said, but the person summing up said how interesting it was, she had a call from Radio 5 to go on drive time radio, and lots of people made very favourable comments throughout the evening, so it must have been good !

I then spent some time looking round the exhibition where there are stalls and stands from most Liberal Democrat organsations, local government organisations, lobbying groups, firms.  There is now a much bigger presence from people outside the party as we have grown in importance.  I picked up some lovely little freebies as well as all sorts of information and contacts, including how to contact Royal Mail about non deliveries.

A quick dash back to the hotel to drop piles of paper collected before going to a fringe meeting on "Support for our Armed Forces".  I will write this up in more detail later, but I was horrified to hear of some of the treatment of our forces both when serving abroad and when back at home.  I didn't agree with the war in Iraq at all, but given that the Government insisted on going to war, they have a huge moral obligation to give proper support.  A Liberal Democrat Group is being set up to campaign for such support.

 Then a brisk walk along the prom to our yearly get together with colleagues from the North East and Yorkshire.  Always enjoyable to be able to meet up with people you don't see very often, swap the gossip, share the problems, and network faster than spiders web.  There is of course a serious side, and listen to what representatives from the Regional Development Agency, North East Association of Councils, Northumbrian Water (who sponspred the event) and MPs had to say.  Also quite a bit of discussion and manoevering over who the next Party President will be.

I realised when I got back at our hotel that I had spent 30 hours in the last 2 days at conference, walked over 7 miles, not sat down for a meal, talked to hundreds of people and not once had I or anyone else raised the issue of Ming and his leadership.  The media are obsessed - but we are getting on with our plans for the future - and how are we going to save the earth!

Sleeping in the same bed as Gladstone?  Well I might have been, as the plaque outside did say that he had stayed there frequently in years gone by!  I wonder if they had Party Conferences in those days? 

Our hotel had a number of athletic looking young people staying that looked as though they were taking part in a triathlon.   Not for me, I thought, but when deciding on the days events, maybe that was something of a triathlon too.  How to juggle going to consultative sessions, fringe meetings, training sessions, conference sessions.  To say nothing of trying to find time to eat!

So what did I do ? A session on Housing Policy where I was able to contribute; a Citizen's Advice meeting on "preventing re-offending"; Opening of Conference and meeting old friends on the way; The "Power with a Difference" debate about Local Government changes when I spoke; the conference rally on Civil Liberties and Human Rights, the Craig Murray meeting, and then Blogger of the Year awards.  More than a triathlon surely!

I didn't win anything in the Blog Awards, but it was exciting to be there, and I would never thought a technophobe like me would have made a shortlist for such.  I was pleased that Mary Reid won two of the awards, not only did she deserve it for the quality of what she did, but she has given me support and encouragement.  She has done a photo of me speaking earlier in the day - quite a technical feat.. 

The railways were on their best behaviour as I travelled to Brighton for the Party Conference, with the only blip being the difficulty of wheeling a suitcase down the steps at Thameslink.  I cannot believe that in this day and age it is still allowed for there to be such an unfriendly access to a service.

Brighton was in full sunshine, even in the early evening, and it was good to be able to walk along the sea front seeing so many people just enjoying themselves whether lazing on the beach, swimming, playing or volley ball.  I was intrigued by a game involving flicking what looked like a small bean bag in the air, to be caught on the limb of someone else and flicked off.  I've no idea what it was called, but it looked fun, and very good exercise.  Maybe it will catch on in Stockton as a game that must be cheap and doesn't annoy anyone.

I was struck by the contrast between the healthy fresh air, exercise, and the rows and rows of fast food outlets with chips and, chips and ......

Wonderful.  A day with no Council meetings, so time to sort and clear all of those piles of reading I've been doing, deal with casework and try to clear the decks.  Not too successfully, but it is better than it was!  A little pile of what arrived this week stares out at me, and non-urgent piles of filing hover into view.  But tomorrow I go to Party Conference, which, as always, I am looking forward to.  A chance to meet friends old and new, be amongst people who share the same values, and, of course, take part in the decision making process of the Party.  Mind you, if anyone dares to mention targets, plans and strategies .......

I am also looking forward to "Blogger of the Year" awards, where I have been short listed for my entry on April 29^th in the previous Mayor's blog.  I won't mind not winning, it will be fun to be there.

You can follow what is happening at Conference on the website.

Even if I did have to get up at the crack of dawn, I was looking forward to going to the first ever conference about Fairtrade Towns in Rotherham.  The trains ran like clockwork, we were met by a minibus to take us to the venue, and what a bunch of lovely people!  After all the efforts of reaching Fairtrade Town status it was such a relief to be amongst people who were on the same wave length.  A lovely friendly atmosphere of a mixture of people including an MEP, MP, Councillors, Council Officers, Churches and Community.   Co-op stall

Besides a good lunch of organic locally sourced materials, I picked up lots of ideas that we can put into practice in Stockton and made a lot of contacts and hopefully new friends.  The information given on the day will be on the Rotherham Council website when ready.

It was quite a setting, we passed signs to Orgreave where the infamous miners battles with the police were in the 1980's, and only half a mile away from Catcliffe where the awful floods last month were, which is a grim reminder that global warming has to be tackled.  There is some information and a picture of an almost unique structure of a glass making cone on a fellow Read My Day site.

So an excellent day with a lovely reminder about how good Fairtrade can be as we were sent on our way with a glass of Fairtrade wine and some chocolate.

I even caught up on my reading pile - or thought I had till I got in and saw the post.

More of markets to come today, with the opening of the newly laid out and refurbished market stalls.   We saw a film mixing excerpts from an old one I had linked from my Mayor's blog, and the present day - it was excellent, and I'll put the link on here when I get it.   I was particularly pleased at the person to open the market - Walter Fox, whose family had run an excellent market stall of well over a century till they retired last month.  I've always felt an affinity with them as they run a market shop I now go to on Yarm Back Lane in their market garden, as my grandfather was a market gardener near Scarborough.  I just love driving up amongst the fresh vegetables.  The other welcome visitor was Graham Wilson, the Chief Executive of the National Association of Market Authorities, and I think he was well impressed.  Stall holders had entered into the spirit of the day, and were dressed up, as well as dressing their stalls up. 

As soon as the official bit was over I was straight back down for some fruit - lovely Fair Trade pineapple for £1.00.

The rest of the day wasn't so good.  I met someone who had a depressing story of how the organisation he was registered with to coach youngsters in a particular sport was changing the registration and training requirements completely for no good reason, with the result that many of the coaches were going to drop out. 

Result - a number of young people will miss out on the chance to get involved in a good and healthy sport.

Then a meeting of an organisation in the ward.  Too many frustration to go into here, but on top of everything else the demands of Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks for an event are going to mean that there will be less activity for young people.  We all want children to be protected as much as possible, but -

Result - more young people on the streets rather than joining in a sport, and just hanging around getting into other bother themselves.

I do ask myself - who is better off with all of this bureaucracy ?

More conference sessions with more good ideas, and I fitted in a good walk on the prom whilst the awards ceremony is on.  No disrespect to the winners, but the blue sky tempted me out - and maybe Stockton will be a winner next year ?

I turned down kind offers of a lift home - my train tickets were booked and I planned to write the report and finish off the reading.  I did get the report done, and have attached it to this blog if anyone is interested.  Reading the blackberry I found that in the two and a half days I had been away 5 new policies/strategies/reports had been e-mailed, and one that was too bigot e-mail was going to arrive on a CD.  Oh, no!

However the train system was not at its best, to put it mildly, and I arrived back an hour and a half late, completely missing ward surgery.  The fault that caused the delay may not have been able to be avoided, but they could have dealt with it better.  The train terminated at York, suddenly, leaving us to wait an hour for the next train to Thornaby.  People had no idea where the train went from, it not being on the display boards, no idea if they could catch a train to Darlington and change, as nobody to ask.  A lot of upset and confusion that could have been prevented with more accurate and timely information - and they wonder why people take the car!

I was staying at the Imperial Hotel, somewhere I would only normally go when at Party Conference for the evening fringe meetings and meeting up with people.  It seemed odd to be walking in and not seeing hoards of Lib Dems filling the place up and crowding the bar out.  However I did discover the delights of their leisure pool, and went out to go out for some long walks along the prom, even daring to do so late at night.

The day was very interesting, finding out how street markets work in other areas, meeting people from different places, and picking up a lot of useful information.  The strong theme that came over to me were that markets must change and move ahead, whilst keeping their unique character.

Everything was conducted in plain English - what a nice change!

I had 3 techy crises, with my good camera stopping working, mobile running down, and then the blackberry almost running down.  Another conference goer charged up my phone and a very pleasant young man in a mobile phone shop dealt with the blackberry whilst I bought 2 Fairtrade T shirts in M and S for a total of £4.00.  There is no doubt that the people in Blackpool were friendly and helpful, whatever people have to say about it.

I started off in Deputy Mayoress role, visiting the Renewable Energy event at Preston Park with John.  There were lots of interesting stalls, though I was disappointed at how most of the methods being promoted just wouldn't work very effectively on our home.   However we do use "Good Energy" http://www.good-energy.co.uk/ for our electricity, which is all from a renewable source.

Then it was off to catch the train to Blackpool as I was going to the National Association of British Market Authorities conference for a few days.  My halo was shining as I was going on the train, reducing my carbon footprint, I had a healthy packed lunch, so no cost to the Council Tax payer in buying a lunch.  I was going to use the time to catch up on a too large pile of reading.  I'd caught up on most of the strategies, and now it was on to the policies.  Most of these were up to a year old, which is quite a good time to read, actually as it is not so much "that sounds like a good idea", as "and just what has happened  about this"!  I sent a number of e-mails off from the blackberry whilst reading to chase a few things up!  However there was time for reading wider ideas and thoughts, too, mainly from other Lib Dems - so more interesting  and inspiring, but it is the opportunity to put into practice we want.  There is no doubt that others will read and do so, even if not in the way intended.

After arriving in Blackpool the halo slipped a little as we were served with the "Blackpool experience" which was fish and chips to eat out of the paper, served in a colourful bucket and spade.  At least it was "real" after all those policies.

Then a tram ride to see the illuminations, for the first time ever - a little surreal!  This is a tram as a boat

Great anticipation today as the world came to Tees Valley, and one of the outposts of "Last Night at the Proms" was at Middlesbrough in the new space by the Mima Art Gallery and floodlit Town Hall.  A "proper" picnic was packed with olives, salmon and strawberries, and we headed off with picnic rug and folding chair.  I have wanted to go to a performance ever since I was a young girl, but by the time I was old enough, and could afford to go I knew I could never have stood  for that long, so tonight was my chance.

People were pouring into the area, and we heard that there were over 7,000 people there. All getting settled down for a good evening's entertainment with flags waving ready.  I was very proud that we had 3 first class local entertainers for the warm up.  The Tees Valley Youth Choir, that are just first class; Wild Cats of Kilkenny that need to be seen as well as heard to be experienced, and the now famous "Journey South".

As we tucked into our picnics I did see that the group in front had one far superior - All Saints Church, Middlesbrough even had a red white and blue candelabra !

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, people were bursting with pride that we were "on the TV" worldwide, and even more so when our Youth Choir led the singing of Rule, Brittania.

I do wonder about some of the words of the songs we sing, but surely a nation that is swollen with pride and confidence ought to be able to stand proud for good values, be welcoming, and not be for ever looking over it's shoulder ?

But it was a good night for our area - and with all those people to drown our out of tune voices we had a really good sing!

The Tees Port Health Authority doesn't sound very exciting, but it is a meeting of Councillors from other Local Authorities to oversee vital behind the scenes work at the Tees Port.  There is a toxin called Afltoxin which can cause serious problems if the mould grows, but there is a team of dedicated working checking it all out for us.  I was amazed to find how much comes through the port, and in July nearly 32,500 tons of foodstuffs from ships registered in 35 different countries.  This created 215 inspections - we just take for granted what appears on the supermarket shelves, don't we.

Coming out of the Town Hall it was exciting to see the preparations for the BBC Proms taking place tomorrow.  We got tickets as soon as they were available, it is wonderful that this event is coming to the Tees Valley and I have always wanted to go.

Arriving home, there was the second big excitement of the week - I had been in the shortlist of 10 for the Co-op Bank's  2006/7 "Mayor of the Year" competition.  The results come out at the end of September and if I win I get £1,000 for my charities - so here is fingers crossed.  The blogging link is that I was the first Mayor of a principle Council to do a "Mayor's Blog" - you can still see it at http://tinyurl.com/ypy4ey